“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” (Phil. 2:14)
Those false prophets that are setting false dates are setting traps for those that follow them online, perhaps unaware that they are doing so, perhaps quite unaware of the actions and intent at times. The regular response by many in the comment section is for the Lord to return, for they feel a need to escape what is now here at the present time, intonations of fear upon the weak.
Those who speak thusly are not glorifying the Lord, but are complaining, they are not working at the task that, if they are indeed saved, has been put before them, but are concerned with escaping before it reaches their doorstep.
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2nd Tim. 3:12)
My friends, if you are complaining, you are not living godly. Now of course we all voice our opinions in the negative towards the direction the Almighty has placed before us at times, but those who have been born-again in the next breath beg His forgiveness for doing so, pick up their cross, and begin to move forward on the path.
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thess. 4:18)
Paul did not reveal the mystery of the Rapture shown to him to those present that day only because of the persecutions they were experiencing, but because some had been told they had missed that blessed moment. These people were willing to suffer and die for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rapture was not viewed as a means of escape, it was not the focal point of every conversation, they did not hide from the responsibilities placed before them or the possible persecutions that would arrive because of professing the One they loved.
The Rapture was not seen as a hoped-for escape from a life of sorrow and grief, of tribulations and trials as it is for so many in these days.
Those who offer date after unfulfilled date are the blind leading the blind, they are deceivers who for vainglory seek to be followed, they are, in many instances, wolves leading astray the sheep. And many of those that follow them are not following the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own selfish desires.
“Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13)
Those who are deceived would no more ask for the Lord to kill them tomorrow than they would ask for a long slow death, they want instant gratification, they desire an instant transformation from this life to the next, they have forgotten the poor and needy, they no longer hear the cries of those in hell, they are concerned only with the abatement of fear that they themselves have brought upon themselves. And as the days grow darker, these false prophets will increase the number of people that will follow them, even as their set dates prove to be wrong, but their hope is not in Christ, but in their own safety from the storm.
They are complaining because, at least in their minds, life is not going as they would desire it to.
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Phil. 4:11)
How does one compare eternity to a few moments of tribulation, how does one compare an eternity of pleasures forevermore to a short time of suffering and sorrow?
Wait for the Rapture, either it will arrive, or you will die, it should make no difference to you if your life is lived in the service of the Living God.
